Ott DeFoe Wins Lake Fork/Lake Athens MFL Event with 57-4lbs!

Last Period Charge Secures Win

By Tyler Binks

MLF Press Release

After five days watching the field battle with big bass at the General Tire Stage Three Presented by TrueTimber on Lake Fork, the Championship Round moved to Lake Athens.

Athens set up much differently than Fork and was a complete unknown to nearly every angler in the field. And while very little was known about this 1,799-acre lake located an hour south of Lake Fork, the day developed into one of the closest races seen in the final round of a Bass Pro Tour event.

That was until Ott DeFoe caught fire and turned a close tournament into an all-out blowout. His ascension to the top was quick and unrelenting.

With just over an hour to go, DeFoe found himself in fifth place with less than 20 pounds for the day, trailing then-leader Mark Daniels, Jr. by over 15 pounds. That’s when he turned things on and left the field in the dust.

In the end, he won by over 28 pounds.

DeFoe Rallies to a Landslide Win

DeFoe did most of his damage a short idle from takeoff, fishing near a bridge. He put on a clinic in the final 75 minutes of the day with a flotilla of bass boats, kayaks and pontoon boats getting a front-row seat to watch one of the best anglers in the world dominate the competition.

DeFoe’s fishing spot was so close to the ramp that he was easily the first angler back; when he put his boat on the trailer a few short minutes after lines-out, he was still trying to process what just happened.

This was surely what the other nine anglers were feeling.

DeFoe finished the day with 23 bass for 69 pounds, 12 ounces.

“That last hour was one of the more special hours that I have ever had in all of my time bass fishing,” DeFoe said.

He discovered his honey hole by watching his electronics, specifically side imaging.

2019 Bassmaster Classic Tennessee River Day 2: Jacob Wheeler Take Lead with 32-06lbs

Zaldain, Ike, MDJ & Wheeler score big limits. 

By Bryan Brasher

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Wheeler's luck in Tennessee continues as he moves into the lead
with 17-11lb limit on Day 2.
(Photo: BASS)

During the early portions of practice for the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, Jacob Wheeler discovered a pattern that he knew would put bass in his livewell.

But since it seemed a little too obvious, he spent the latter portions of practice looking for something he thought no one else would find.

He ultimately went back to the obvious — and it has him in position to win the Super Bowl of Bass Fishing.

After landing 14 pounds, 11 ounces during Friday’s opening round, Wheeler caught five bass Saturday that weighed 17-11 and sprang into first place with a two-day total of 32-6. His five-bass limit Saturday was one of the few weighed in this week that featured all smallmouth.

“I know this crew,” Wheeler said. “I knew they would figure out the same thing I had figured out. Even though there are miles and miles and miles of water, they were going to figure it out.

“I tried to move around the lake, be smart about it and just fish what looked good to me — looking for that needle in the haystack. But I never found it, so I just had to fall back to what I knew I had.”

No angler on earth is more guarded with his techniques than the one who leads the Bassmaster Classic heading into the final round. So Wheeler only said that he was fishing a “reaction bite” with moving baits.

He said catching five smallmouth Saturday was a surprise.

“If you would have told me at the start of the tournament that eight of my 10 fish so far would be smallmouth, I would have said there’s no way,” Wheeler said. “It’s been so hard to catch a smallmouth — even a nonkeeper.”

“That is not something I thought I had dialed in at all.”

2018 Bassmaster Elite Lake Oahe Day 3: MDJ Out in Front with 56-06 lbs!

Boyd Duckett 2nd, Casey Ashley 3rd. 

By James Hall

BASS PRESS RELEASE 

Drop shot key to Daniels' success.
(Photo: BASS)

Alabama’s Mark Daniels Jr., who vaulted to the lead in the Berkley Bassmaster Elite at Lake Oahe presented by Abu Garcia Saturday, distanced himself from the rest of the field today. The second-year Elite Series pro brought 17 pounds, 6 ounces to the scales for a three-day total of 56-6, which gives him a nearly 6 1/2-pound cushion going into Championship Monday.
 
“Man, it was tougher today. I need to get more bites,” Daniels said. “There is fishing pressure in the area, and I think the bass are starting to get hip to what’s going on. I had a lot of fish swim up and look at my bait and not bite today. The first day they would come eat it while it was sinking.”
 
Daniels is concerned that his school is almost fished out, so his impressive cushion does not make him overconfident. “Tomorrow, I’m going to expand on my area and probably try some new water. I need those 4-pound bites, and I feel like they will be pretty hard to come by if I stay where I’m at.”
 
Boyd Duckett made a huge surge to second place on the strength of a 16-pound, 6-ounce limit of smallmouth on Day 3. This pushed his total to 50-1. The Alabama pro and former Bassmaster Classic champion credits his success to fish management.
 
“During practice, I had found three schools of fish,” he said. “One was a community hole that a lot of guys found. One was a little less obvious. And my third was a little hidey hole that I was hoping nobody found.
 
“I started the first day on the community hole and then went and caught a couple on my second place. Yesterday I just fished my second spot and it had one other angler on it. Today, I finished out my limit on the hidey hole and nobody was on it. So, I feel good about starting there tomorrow.”
 

2018 Bassmaster Elite Lake Oahe Day 2: MDJ Grabs Lead with 39lbs!

Wind swept Oahe tougher than expected

By James Hall

BASS PRESS RELEASE 

Daniels ready for first BASS win.
(Photo: BASS)

Alabama’s Mark Daniels Jr., who was sitting in second place after the opening round Friday, vaulted to the lead on the strength of a monster 20-pound, 4-ounce limit today in the Berkley Bassmaster Elite at Lake Oahe presented by Abu Garcia.
 
However, before Daniels and the rest of the 107-angler field were able to make a single cast, they had to patiently wait through a 1 1/2- hour wind delay. A brutal storm passed through Pierre last night, pushing 70-mph winds and several inches of rain across the region, turning the 370,000-acre fishery into an angry ocean.
 
But once the water settled and the anglers were set free, Daniels started off the second round of competition just like he ended Day 1.
 
“Smallmouth are random. I fish randomly. Sometimes we just intersect,” explained Daniels, whose 20-4 worth of smallmouth gave him a two-day total of 39 pounds to take the event lead.
 
“I’m fishing transition areas where these big females are leaving spawning flats and chilling out before going deep,” the Alabama pro said. “I’m seeing a lot of the fish I’m catching on my Garmin Panoptix unit, doing the ‘video game deal.’ It’s how I like to fish.”
 
Daniels believes his fishing spots are replenishing daily with more big smallmouth. “The beauty of the areas I’m fishing is that postspawners should reload the spots. If I’m right, I should be able to bring in another 20 pounds tomorrow,” he said.
 
North Carolina pro David Fritts proved that his impressive first-day limit of Oahe smallmouth (19-7) was no fluke by bringing in an 18-pound, 1-ounce bag for Round 2. This gives the 1993 Bassmaster Classic champion a two-day total of 37-8, good enough for second place heading into Day 3.
 
“I’m proud of what I caught today, because where I was fishing, the wind was brutal. I had waves crashing over the bow of my boat all morning,” Fritts related. He believes this intense wave action has cost him the lead.